"Boule" on the grandest scale

Me again,

It has been a while since I blogged but I have vowed to myself that from now on I shall try to be more regular, frequent and brief - that sounds awful doesn't it?

To update you (with my Waterwell contractor's hard hat on), we are in the process of helping the renowned garden designer, Cleve West on his garden at the Chelsea Flower Show in London. The garden is being sponsored by BUPA, their first foray into the competitive world of show gardens and is based around a garden designed to benefit people with Dementia and Parkinson's Disease.

The focal point of the garden will be the huge, 7 foot diameter, textured concrete "Boule" that will sit on the edge of a reflective pool. The "Boule" has been created by the French sculptors, Serge and Agnes Bottagisio-Decoux.

Our involvement is to light the garden for the gala night on Monday, one of the key society events of the London social scene. We will be using a unique, one-off light fitting designed by one of our suppliers, the Italian manufacturers, IGuzzini. This new light uses an array of 36, one watt Luxeon colour change LED lamps. Using this fitting, the huge “Boule” will be intensely lit from one side with concentrated, colour change light to produce a constantly evolving scene. The illumination of the “Boule” with an ever-changing spectrum of colour will be the centre piece of the garden at night, bringing it to life and creating drama and excitement for any occasion”.

To contrast the colour change effect on the “Boule” there will be soft ambient uplighting of each of the six Juneberry trees (Amelanchier lamarckii). This gentle, warm light will provide the backdrop or “setting” for the illumination of the “Boule”.

In my next blog I hope to attach an image or two of the lighting effect that we produced for the BUPA garden so that you can see for yourselves if it lived up to the hype.

See you next time, Simon